Workers determined to continue protest
If being shut out of work was not enough for Affco meatworkers, they say their protest base is also being threatened.
The picket line headquarters for more than 100 union workers is currently on the edge of the Horotiu Reserve – the corner of Horotiu Rd and State Highway 1 – but they say they recently received a letter from Waikato District Council telling them they needed to leave the area.
Union delegate and health and safety officer Roger Kennard believed council were worried Affco owners, the Talley family, would eventually close off the reserve and playground to the public.
He understood the land was owned by Talleys but gifted to council, which maintained it.
Since being stationed at the main entrance on SH1, pickets have been forced to move their base twice and had not been helped by Talleys’ erection of a fence a metre from the roadside.
‘‘We actually knew it was happening and we laughed amongst ourselves because they’re going down to a very low level playing childish games like this,’’ Mr Kennard, an Affco worker of eight years, said.
‘‘It’s not going to stop us protesting along here.’’
He said the district council had initially given them the green light to have their marquee – provided to them by Tainui – on the reserve land, but the about-turn had disappointed union members.
The alternative suggested to the group was to have a gazebo instead, which would have to be taken down each night.
Mr Kennard described the move as ‘‘scare tactics’’ but said they would certainly not allow things to reach the stage where the community’s access to the playground was restricted.
Despite a 10-week deadlock in negotiations between the meatworkers’ union and Affco bosses, and some pickets having to get jobs elsewhere, he said they remained resolute.
‘‘They think they’ll wear us out – that’s not going to happen,’’ Mr Kennard said.
‘‘It’s not really a question of how long we’ll stay. We’re here until we get something in writing that we’re happy with.’’
The tooting horns of passing motorists strengthened the pickets’ resolve but it was the people who stopped every day to drop off food that really boosted morale, he said.
Mr Kennard said they had not heard much about negotiations over the past week but he expected progress report over the next couple of days.